The Religion of Money in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby - Essay

The Religion of M matchlessy in The bully Gatsby Near the beginning of George Bernard Shaws major(ip) Barbara, Mr. Undershaft exclaims in retort of anothers question, well, I am a millionaire, and that is my religion (Shaw 103). many people look toward the heavens in search of the power to modify them to live in the world. Others, like Shaws Mr. Undershaft, look toward more earthly subjects to restrain their power and symbolize their status. Often these subjects, such as money, wealth, or tangible beauty and ability, allow for their owners an everywherebearing sense of power and ability in all of that they do. Some people become so obsessed with their button-down power that it becomes their religion and black markets them in everything that they do. In F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, the character of tomcat Buchanan is introduced and portrayed as someone who has allowed his physical abilities, money, and wealth, become his religion and lead him in his actions, perce ived thoughts and beliefs, and speech. Nick, the front person narrator of The Great Gatsby, introduces tomcat as a national figure in a way, one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards savours of anti-climax (Fitzgerald 10). In college at New Haven, tom turkey relied on his physical abilities, as one of the most powerful ends that ever play football (Fitzgerald 10), as well as inherited wealth to give him the power and prestige to be perceived as better than the best. In the beginning of his college career, as Nick seems to suggest, it was this supreme physical ability on the football field that allowed Tom to have supreme reign over all off the field. But, after college, the football legacy ended, and with it, Tom... ...lected to make a short deft movement that broke her nose with his open founder (Fitzgerald 41) rather than admit that the other party could do something without his explicit permission. From his first i ntroduction early in the first chapter of The Great Gatsby to the end of the second, Tom strives to constantly remind everyone around him of his power through his actions, thoughts, and speech. Like purple subjects loyal to their king, he believes that everyone is under him and should respect and obey his every wish. by the mastery of Fitzgeralds poetic hand, a character has been created to which wealth has become a religion and god has become a personification of himself. Works Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York Scribner-Simon, 1992. Shaw, George Bernard. Pygmalion and Major Barbara. New York Bantom Books, 1992.